Householder flexes muscle against House GOP campaign committee

Thursday

The Ohio House Republican’s campaign committee isn’t accustomed to being pushed around.

Flush with money, backing candidates in gerrymandered districts, OHROC, as the committee is known, has been highly successful for much of the last 30 years.

But battling Democrats is one thing. On Tuesday, OHROC ran smack into Republican Rep. Larry Householder, a former House speaker and fundraising juggernaut, who plowed through OHROC-backed candidates like a tractor running across his Glenford farm.

In the 11 open primary races in which OHROC spent time and/or money supporting a candidate, the Householder-backed opposing candidate won or is leading in 10 of them, including in the 19th District in eastern Franklin County and the 67th District in Delaware County.

Householder wants to be House speaker again, and he recruited candidates, a number of whom went head-to-head with candidates backed by Rep. Ryan Smith, R-Bidwell, who also wants to be speaker.

“They had the better operation and organization all along. Larry is a machine,” said Matt Borges, a GOP consultant and former Ohio Republican Party chairman, about Householder’s team. “He’s coming. Anyone who didn’t realize that before probably realizes it now, and it may happen sooner than later.”

The House has seen leadership fights before, but an organized, well-funded campaign running against OHROC from inside the caucus is essentially unheard of.

Householder did not return a message for comment, but his supporters have said that, all told, up to 20 Republican candidates who won Tuesday are on his side. Some question that number, but regardless, Householder had a good day.

“I’ve seen this drama play out. I was here when Householder stormed the castle once before,” Borges said of Householder’s maneuvering to become speaker in 2001. “If I’m him, I’m on the phone with every member right now saying, ‘I’ve got 20 people coming with me in January, so it’s going to be me. You might as well get on board now.’”

The House will vote next week on a new speaker to replace Cliff Rosenberger, R-Clarksville, who abruptly resigned in mid-April amid an FBI probe into his overseas travel.

The candidates who won in open seats on Tuesday won’t vote next week, Smith said. “I still feel confident I’ve got a tremendous amount of votes to get across the finish line. The caucus knows who I am, what I’m about and how hard I work.”

It’s unclear whether Householder will formally enter as a candidate next week, or whether he will support a short-term speaker who would not seek the job in 2019.

Rep. Mike Duffey, R-Worthington, prefers a permanent speaker. He is not sure how Tuesday will affect that vote.

“I don’t see a lot of sense in having an interim, because everyone won’t really invest in that person for decision-making, and it will just create disruption,” he said.

The Rosenberger FBI investigation provided plenty of ammo for ads linking candidates backed by Smith and OHROC to Rosenberger’s situation. Some ads made OHROC appear to be a shady organization — an unusual attack from Republicans, some of whom likely will need OHROC help in November.

They got big checks — the kind usually reserved for those with key leadership positions — from Householder’s major backers, including the Affiliated Construction Trades (ACT Ohio), operating engineers union, FirstEnergy, coal titan Wayne Boich, coal company Murray Energy and the plumbers and pipefitters union.

GOP races also featured spending by at least five super PACs, often running negative ads.

“I’m focused on next week and going into the fall, and trying to create a united group to focus on a common enemy,” Smith said.

While House Republicans spent millions beating on one another, House Democrats had a relatively quiet primary and are now eyeing pickup opportunities, particularly in suburban seats, including three in Franklin County.

"We have a really broad map, a lot of races to choose from,” said Aaron Fisher, executive director of the House Democratic Caucus campaign operation. As of today, Democrats have candidates in all 99 seats.

While it’s not necessarily an issue that resonates with voters, Fisher said, the GOP leadership fight can benefit Democrats in November.

“The true benefit will come from a division of resources, which is critical for us when we’ve known we’ll have a cash disadvantage,” he said. “There is no way it’s going to harm us.”

Jim Siegel is a staff writer for The Columbus Dispatch.

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